Elite schools up for grabs in Form One rush

The scramble for elite schools for candidates who sat this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination is set to start on December 4, when the Form One selection kicks off.

Major focus will be on the so-called elite 18 national schools at the expense of the other 87 across the country as all candidates who scored 400 marks will join national schools, irrespective of whether they sat their exams in private or public schools.

CANDIDATES

This year 9,848 candidates scored more than 401 marks compared to last year’s 5,143 while 217,307 candidates scored between 301 and 400 marks compared to 207,141 last year.

A further 529,897 scored between 201 and 300 marks compared to last year’s 501,552 while 234,308 candidates got 101 to 200 marks, compared to 221,438 last year. Only 2,360 candidates scored less than 100 marks compared to last year’s 6,747.

The Standard Eight candidates were only allowed to pick one elite national school when making their choices, a move that was aimed at eliminating the cut-throat competition for places.

Speaking during the release of the examinations results on Tuesday in Nairobi, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the selection is expected to be complete by December 12.

MERIT

“It is the Ministry of Education’s plan that candidates, together with their parents and guardians, must know of the schools where their children will be admitted to in January,” said the CS.

He said parents will not go into the annual nightmare of school placement since the government has put in place measures to ensure that all the candidates are admitted to secondary schools.

“Placement of candidates into public secondary schools will be based on merit, quotas, equity, affirmative action and student choice.

Efforts will also be made to ensure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds continue with their education when the selection is done,” said Dr Matiang’i.

Dr Matiang’i said just like last year, students will get their admissions letters online.

In 2015, the government developed tough guidelines on Form One selection.

Under the new rules, the 105 national schools were grouped into four clusters, with each candidate required to pick only one school from each cluster.

The 18 schools considered more prestigious than the recently gazetted were all put in the third cluster, meaning no candidate can select any two of them.

MARGINALISED

The schools include Alliance Boys, Alliance Girls, Mangu High, Maseno, Starehe Boys, Starehe Girls, Nairobi School, Lenana School and the Kenya High School.

Others are Moi Forces Lanet, Moi Forces Academy, Utumishi Academy, Moi Girls Eldoret, Nakuru Boys, Nakuru Girls, Maryhill Girls, Loreto Limuru and Limuru Girls.

A total of 30 national schools, most of which used to be top provincial schools, were placed in cluster one.

They include Pangani Girls, Maranda Boys, Lugulu Girls, Friends School Kamusinga, Meru School, Kapsabet Boys, Kisii School, Kakamega School and Mama Ngina Girls in Mombasa.

The second and fourth clusters had 25 and 30 schools, respectively, mainly from marginalised counties like Tana River, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Turkana, Kajiado, Lamu, Samburu and West Pokot.